Stargate: The Ark of Truth – Blu-ray Review

Blu-ray Reviews, Film, Reviews

stargatearkblu

So science fiction, eh? I don’t really have anything against it, but it’s never quite been my cup of tea. The whole Star Wars trilogy and then some is really good and those films are awesome so I’ve got that going for me. I’ve seen four of the Star Trek films I think and not a single episode of the television series ever. SeaQuest DSV was awesome in my mind but some people doubt its sci-fi ability because it dealt with water more then space but that’s their opinion. Stargate: Ark Of Truth stems from a television series I’ve never seen and another film entitled Continuum which I haven’t checked out either. There is a strange and strong feeling in my stomach that I may get hell once this review is said and done.

Please stay with me here because even though I checked out the prelude before actually watching the film, I still don’t have much of an idea as to what is going on. Ark of Truth makes it obvious from the very beginning that unless you know something about what has been going on then you are just going to be straight up lost. Well that held true because the film is quite confusing to me and I don’t get half the references made to past events or other people involved. And in reality, it is Ark that came first after the TV series and Continuum followed it but the Blu-ray releases appear out of order. Weird.

The ark of truth is an artifact discovered long ago and connects all planets and galaxies with one another. He who possesses it will have great authority and tremendous power over all those below him. This power comes in the form of traveling through the space/time continuum so that you can make your way to different galaxies and planets. It appears as if this technology has been available for centuries and in use by many different species and races. Most of them want to use it to their advantage for world domination but have failed. Falling into the wrong hands of someone that knows how to use it could spell disaster for the world and current time as all humans know it. The world government of Earth has assembled different military teams to travel the galaxy, find the ark, and make sure that it is no longer used by the forces of evil no matter what time or place they are from.

Ok, so essentially that is what I gather from the film as a whole even though I know there is a lot more to it I’m just not comprehending. Stuff is going on with certain characters and with past storylines but none of that is something that affects me really because I’m not up to date on all of it. Going off of what I learned just from watching the film with no prior knowledge; it’s a pretty intriguing concept they have going here and my interest has certainly been piques by what I saw before me. There is almost enough interest there to head out and pick up old season sets of the television show or more so Continuum just to get a little more knowledge as to what led up to the Ark of Truth.

Actually I don’t really see myself grabbing any of the seasons because even though the film was decent, it’s not nearly enough to get me to sit down and watch hours of this franchise. If it’s your thing then by all means go ahead and do it. I think I’ve come to realize that unless there are murderous aliens in a horror setting then it’s not something that will be an everlasting staple in my viewing library. Maybe that is why Star Wars is more enjoyable to me then Star Trek because the films are more then enough to tickle my fancy. Throw in years and years of episodes from a weekly television series and you’ve totally lost me.

Ark of Truth is presented in a 1.78:1 Anamorphic Widescreen format and out of the month or so I’ve been watching Blu-rays now; this would have to be the most disappointing looking one yet. The colors are overly brightened at times which is obviously all they tried to do to upgrade it from the television release. Other scenes that are darker are even worse because either you can’t see what is going on or they are bright and way too purple. Big disappointment.

The film is heard in Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound and while it does a better job then the video, it’s not overly good. Perhaps it did as good as it could for a straight-to-TV film but that’s being too generous when TV DVD sets come off sounding much better then this.

Audio Commentary – Writer/director/producer Robert C. Cooper takes a seat with director of photography Peter Woeste and star Christopher Judge for a rather decent commentary track. They go through much of the series and how it has developed a cult following before it even disappears from sight so they always enjoy making new films or shows because they know just how much fanfare it will receive. All three discuss the shoot and it appears as if they truly enjoyed making this film and love what Stargate brings to the table in terms of films and a series. Great listen and worth watching the film a second time through.

The Ark of Truth: Stargate at Comic Con – Cast and crew sit together on a panel at a recent Comic Con event to answer questions and discuss the film and series. Fans present at the convention eat this and love it. I will admit that panels like this always make great special features because they are often candid and reveal a lot of information that you usually wouldn’t find in “making of” or “behind the scenes” featurettes.

Uncovering The Ark of Truth – Speaking of your “behind the scenes” featurette, that’s what you get here. Cast and crew talk about the film and give a general overview of the plot and how it has stemmed from the television series. Some backstage shots are shown and there is a good amount of candid stuff presented which makes for a rather fun little feature. It’s nothing out of the ordinary though.

Stargate SG-1: The Road Taken – Prelude To Stargate: The Ark of Truth – This is quite the cool feature that puts together a small history from the Stargate television series in order to get people caught up and let them know exactly we’ve gotten to the Ark of Truth. In a nice touch; this prelude can be viewed separately here in the special features or even attached to the feature film.


I kind of feel bad giving Ark of Truth a rating this low but it just wasn’t that good. Actually I’m beginning to think that even if I did know everything that was going on, it would still get this low a rating. It’s just not that entertaining at all and my time would have been better spent doing something else and almost anything at that. The special features are nothing of real note but actually are a tad bit bitter then the feature itself. Ok, so maybe I’m spoiled now on the quality of video and audio that Blu-rays bring home even if the films are really crappy. Ark of Truth went forth with being a crappy flick and also having some of the worst A&V quality I’ve ever seen even for a Blu-ray Disc. Hell, even for a VHS. It surely isn’t Blu-ray worthy so I don’t know how it ever passed by production standards to be called high definition. Fans of anything Stargate will eat this up but the rest of us are much better off starving if this is all that’s on the menu.

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20th Century Fox presents Stargate: The Ark of Truth. Directed by: Robert C. Cooper. Starring: Ben Browder, Amanda Tapping, Christopher Judge, Claudia Black, Currie Graham, Morena Baccarin, Tim Guinee, Julian Sands, Sarah Strange, Michael Beach, Beau Bridges, Michael Shanks. Written by: Robert C. Cooper. Running time: 102 minutes. Rating: Not Rated. Released on DVD: January 13, 2009. Available at Amazon.com